Making Sense Of The Census – A Process Of Culmination

Cross posted @ God Is 4 Suckers!

As some of you may be aware, I’m currently working for the 2010 Census Bureau (albeit temporarily, alas). It’s a job. I knock on doors, and ask a few questions, some of which are slightly intrusive. The US Census, which has been going on for some time now (in fact, since 1790). In California, we’re in danger of losing a representative, and the process in question renders demographic statistics that allow the government to allocate funding to specific programs.

In the course of centuries, it’s grown more diverse and complex. It’d be a good guess that only white folks were counted, nobody knew how many Native Americans were about (not that they got money for anything anyways), the Chinese were just those subhumans who built the railroads…you can fill in the blanks. We have more of everyone now: there are transgender folks to count, and America is literally resembling more the melting pot that it was claimed to be in metaphor only.

There are, of course, people wailing “Foul!” at the incursion of government’s seeming nosiness. The above video is one such, Jerry Day, who demonstrates a complete lack of journalistic integrity.

Why do I say this? Watch the video. He does a lousy Andy Rooney, for one thing. For another, he whinges on about how the census is asking all these questions: how much was your mortgage? What do you pay in bills? Etc.

What he leaves out, is that this happened last year. The Census Bureau was doing a numbers pull (my terminology, not theirs), about the cost of living. This year, I’m just asking these questions. Yes, the same ‘questions’ that Day couldn’t seem to get out of a single phone call. Note the Frankensplicing he uses. Most government workers are drones, and being approached by a media celebrity of any caliber usually sends them rushing off to consult with managers, who inform them that they should likely just hang up. I would truly like to hear the entire conversation, not just watch Day stare at a phone and rattle on.

For an even more aggravated response, I found this during a random Google search:

To obstruct a census worker in his duties per provisions of Title 13 of U.S. Code comes with a possible fine "...not to exceed $500." There have only been a few cases where code convictions have resulted in fines. Most people cooperate with the census and permit themselves to be counted. However, with the advent of the American Community Survey in 1995, a program administrated by the U.S. Bureau of the Census under the Department of Commerce, people began to quietly rebel. Instead of just counting us by number, gender and race, we were expected to fill out a form that asked scores of extremely invasive questions, answers to which many Americans felt were none of the government’s business and refused to fill out the 36 pages of survey questions. Beginning last April, the quiet rebellion erupted in outspoken anger as the dupes of military contractors masquerading as census workers used GPS locators to tag Americans’ addresses to their front doors (The IO, April, 2009). The reasons given for the "precensus" trespasses were not satisfactory to a large cross section of Americana. Following is an explanation that, while not making us feel good about the fact that foreign troops or rockets can find our front doors from outer space, it will answer questions that the temporary worker dupes couldn’t—or wouldn’t.

Scare-mongering at its finest. While I’ve never been a big fan of Big Brother government, hinting around that some foreign troops or rockets will descend on us because of some exacting cartographic locationing is a little bit over the top. Big pluses are: people being able to find you via GPS (including the police, if you get home-invaded, or EMTs in the case of severe medical emergency), being able to chart and sidetrack in case of natural disasters – why, think of it, folks might not get lost any more, which could save a few lives here and there.

And yes, Michelle Bachmann, talking head/second eye candy of the reichwingnuts, she of the anti-global warming nonsense, who perhaps has the scariest amount of stupid quotes in the world (probably only eclipsed by the commander-in-thief who ruined this fine country), is actually claiming that the Census (held since 1790, likely by the ‘Founding Fathers’ these nutballs slaver over constantly) is some sort of conspiracy by ACORN and Obama to…well, these people exhaust me with their stupidity.

I’m not insisting the government’s completely trustworthy, but there are injunctions against misuse and the violation of confidentiality that are quite the deterrent.

In other news, the other talking head strumpet Palin declares:

"Go back to what our founders and our founding documents meant - they're quite clear - that we would create law based on the God of the bible and the ten commandments."

And think about it – these two retards are looking at running for the presidential ticket in 2012. 

Makes my heart skip a beat in terror, it does.

Till the next post, then.